Wasa's move for more surface water

Nobody will contest the concerns for switching to surface water as overuse of groundwater is having a dangerous impact through land subsidence. This makes the city vulnerable to devastation in case of any serious earthquake. Besides, there are severe water deficits to be met through installation of more surface water plants at suitable locations. The decision of Wasa to reduce dependency on groundwater from 78 per cent to 30 per cent in seven years, belated though it is, is well taken.
That Wasa is contemplating to have three new plants by piping water from Padma and Jamuna is welcome in principle but the sewerage aspect of Wasa's functioning points our attention to the polluted and stinky waters of four rivers encircling Dhaka.
Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Balu and Turag were once the lifeline of Dhaka but have since turned into a tightening, pollution-laced noose around the city's windpipe. One wonders how the river-belt around Dhaka city, a rare natural endowment, once comparable to Venice, has been allowed to progressively deteriorate into a moribund state. This is an unacceptable situation that can be rolled back into life like in some major cities in the neighbourhood.
The continual inattention and inaction of our authorities to Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Balu and Turag have to be replaced with high priority accorded to restoration of the dying rivers. We are insistent on this recalling the blatant defiance of the repeated SOS from media and civil society, High Court's directives and Prime Minister's orders to save the rivers before it is too late.